News Detail

19

Mar, 2020

AYSO Resources: What To Do During Your Break From The Soccer Field

The past few weeks have been filled with worry and confusion due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The school semester has been placed on hold, parents are working from home, soccer seasons paused and social distancing implemented. Our normal daily life has been disrupted and there is not a concrete timeline as to when our regularly scheduled days will return. AYSO understands that these are not the best of times and the time away from the field can be frustrating. To help appease the absence of soccer from our lives, we decided to brainstorm ways to bring the beautiful game of soccer to you!

Throughout this time, we will regularly update this page with more fun, soccer-related activities you can do from the comfort of your own home. Share this with a teammate, parent, friend, coach and anyone else you can think of to help spread the soccer cheer!

Have any recommendations for some of these resources? Send us your recommendation to [email protected]! To stay updated, make sure to follow us on social media @AYSO_soccer.

Training Activities and Soccer Challenges

No team training? No problem! Below are a few suggestions on how you can maintain your fitness level and stay connected with your teammates!

Books and Crafts

Get your creative juices flowing and keep your mind sharp!

AYSO Book Club

With the help of Bookroo, we have a list of the best children’s books about soccer. From there, we have chosen some favorites to kick off our AYSO Book Club! Stay tuned for more information on how you can join us for the very first AYSO Book Club Storytime!

PLAYSOCCER

Flip through some great articles in our quarterly PLAYSOCCER magazine. Get inspired reading powerful stories of AYSO alums and current players doing great things for their community! Click here to read articles from past issues.

Coloring Contest

Check out some of our classic coloring contests and dust off those coloring pencils! Submit us your work and we will pick some winners that will receive some AYSO gear!

Digital: Soccer Games, Movies, and Documentaries

Take advantage of your gaming consoles or video streaming services (Netflix, Youtube, Amazon Prime, etc.), and keep your team communicating and talking about the game of soccer during this hiatus. Need suggestions on what to watch and play? We curated a small list below:

FIFA 20 Tournaments

Log-in to your console and play your teammates or your coach in virtual soccer from all across the soccer globe. Manchester United vs LA Galaxy? No problem! Barcelona vs. Atlanta United? Game on!

Watch an MLS Classic match

Major League Soccer is letting you relive some of the league’s most exhilarating matches and will feature them on their Youtube channel throughout the coming weeks:

*Coaches Tip: have a virtual discussion with your team about the content they’re watching. Talk about the lessons learned and what they can adopt for future soccer seasons.*

Any other suggestions for creative soccer-related activities during this “down-time” please send them our way to share!

Learning

Coaches, even though you’re not on the field, it’s the perfect time to invest in your own coach education development so you are even better prepared when we can start returning to activity. Access some amazing resources below.

If your region already uses the AYSO Platform, don’t worry, you will be able to provide all of your players with free access to another Coaching Manual platform, TopTekkers, during the Spring (to the value of your Region price point).

For Parents

Squeezing in online schooling, chores, free time, exercise, and meals, all to be done at home, can be dull and difficult to manage for you and your children. Parents, below are some resources to help you best organize your days and ways to talk to your children about the importance of self distancing.Parents, below are some resources to help you talk to your children about self distancing and why this new reality is important. You will also find ideas to better schedule your day with your children to ensure a balanced time of learning and exercise.

Creative Scheduling

Work together as a family to create daily schedules that work for every member. Here are a few ways to be as creative as possible with your schedules!

*Parent Tip: perhaps give your child the freedom to plan their day by themselves to spark up some motivation!*

Tough Conversations

NPR created a great graphic story to help explain Coronavirus to young children. This graphic can be helpful in sparking up the conversation about why social distancing is an important practice to follow during this difficult time.

Dealing with Anxiety

Your children may be experiencing some anxiety about recent changes of lifestyle. Limit your children’s exposure to news coverage and talk to them about their worries. Below is a graphic with helpful practices on how to help then feel most at ease.

Have any recommendations for some of these resources? Send us your recommendation to [email protected]! To stay updated, make sure to follow us on social media @AYSO_soccer.